The Daughter of a Genius
by Cheesypuff19
Summary: Not long after Loki's attack on New York, the Avengers are finally getting used to each other's company in the newly renovated Avengers Tower. Although it's not long before a spanner is thrown into the works and the Avengers have to get used to a strange young human in the Tower and the roles they must share when dealing with her upbringing.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It had been several months since Loki's plan to rule Earth had happened and Stark Tower was close to being fully transformed into Avengers Tower. All the Avengers, excluding Thor in Asgard, had just moved into their specific living quarters and only a few more alterations had to be made before the tower was complete. Along with each Avenger having their own living areas there was also a main living area where the Avengers planned to spend most of the time with each other's company.

In the early hours on a Monday, Pepper Potts slowly made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. She emitted a yelp and wore a startled look when she saw Natasha Romanoff already sat at the bar counter sipping at her steaming cup of coffee. "Oh! Sorry…I didn't think anyone else was awake." Which was true. Normally it was just her and Tony, which usually resulted in Pepper not seeing Tony until 12 at a push. Pepper found it hard to adapt to the increased amount of people living in the tower, and still had a surreal feeling knowing a group of superheroes lived in this one building. 'Telling my parents I live in one of the tallest towers in New York with a group of superheroes is definitely going to go down well…' Pepper thought.

"It's fine. There's coffee already made if you want some."

"Oh, thanks." Pepper replied nervously. She wouldn't admit it verbally, but she was kind of intimidated by Natasha and her job, 'It's definitely a…unique occupation, that's for sure' she thought. 'Just don't get on her bad side and you should be fine.' Natasha had been on a mission when the other avengers moved in leaving her to move in later, or more specifically, the day before. Pepper thought she would have felt the same towards Natasha as she did Clint, but when she first met Natasha she knew she may have to sleep with one eye open.

"How long have you been up?"

"Couple of hours."

"Oh…well…did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah-"

"Was everything set up okay? I wasn't sure what you would need exactly. I can get someone to bring anything you need if it's necessary-"

"Really Pepper, it's fine, everything's perfect." Natasha gave a small smile to calm Pepper's nerves and let her know she wasn't going to kill her as soon as she turned her back.

Pepper inwardly sighed with relief when Clint came into the kitchen and automatically moved to the readymade coffee, nursing the steaming mug close to him. This was part of the morning routine that Pepper had got used to; with her being the first awake, Clint soon after and the others gradually appeared at their own pace, awoken by the smell of breakfast. She now had to get used to Natasha's appearance in the tower.

"Morning Ladies" Clint announced whilst shuffling over to sit next to Natasha. It was obvious to everyone that Clint and Natasha had a very close bond; but no one had the guts to say it out loud. "Anything important we need to do today?"

After Loki's attack on Earth the Avengers found their missions slowly dwindle with the majority only needing Clint and Natasha, sometimes Steve. Most of the tasks they were set to do were created by Pepper and consisted of simple things they could do around the tower. Many of the Avengers protested against those, stating "We're almighty superheroes, we shouldn't be doing _chores_!" and "I'm Ironman! I can fly and shoot repulsor beams that can blow buildings to pieces! I shouldn't be wasting energy finding all the greatest offers in Walmart and using crappy coupons." In the end, they finally gave in to Pepper's nagging and get the jobs done as fast as possible.

"Nothing much really Clint. I need to go to a couple of meetings this morning since I can't see Tony waking up for them any time soon. I do need someone to do a bit of food shopping since Thor decided to raid the fridge like it was his last ever meal before going to Asgard."

After Pepper finished her explanation, Bruce and Steve walked in whilst they conversed quietly between themselves. "Good Morning." Pepper stated brightly.

"Morning" Came the same reply from the both of them. "Where's Tony?" Steve asked as he looked around the kitchen and peered into the main living area.

"Probably still in his own dream world." Pepper sighed while she began to stand up in order to start getting ready for a long list of meetings she needed to attend. "Look I need to get going, I left a list of jobs to do, I don't really mind who does them as long as they get done."

Pepper rushed to the door and started to put on her heels while she checked her phone for any important updates and information about the meetings. After she called a farewell to those in the kitchen, and receiving a chorus of goodbyes, she left heading down to the lobby of the tower.

* * *

As she approached the entrance to the Avengers tower she was shocked when she came across a young woman in a suit holding a young infant in her arms. She was quite petite with unnaturally straight hair to her waist. She was currently scanning her phone in one hand, gracefully bouncing the infant at the same time. The young child stared curiously at all the busy people that moved around the reception. The women glanced up and spotted Pepper walking across to the entrance of the building. Her deep, brown eyes flashed in recognition. She started to walk over with a friendly smile, shifting the little girl higher in her arms.

"Erm…Hello, are you by any chance a Miss Virginia Potts?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes I am, and you are?..."

"Ah great! Well Miss Potts, I am Diana Parsons and I work with social services in New York." She handed her driver's licence and details to prove who she was. "I'm here to talk to Mr Tony Stark?"

"Why would you need to speak with Tony?" Pepper asked defensively.

"I need to discuss with him the issue related with his daughter. Social services had to remove the child from her previous home due to claims from neighbours of neglect and abuse from her mother."

Pepper stood frozen in shock not fully listening to the woman in front of her after she claimed Tony had a daughter. Pepper felt conflicting emotions; anger towards Tony and sadness for the poor child. Pepper finally came to her senses and told the social worker to follow her to go see Tony. As the elevator taking them up the tower came to a stop, Pepper thought 'Tony won't know what hit him.'

* * *

"TONY!"

"TONY COME DOWN HERE NOW!"

"What Pep?"

"TONY!"

"WHAAAAAT! I'm right next to you Pepper!"

"Oh." Pepper worked to compose herself before she turned to introduce their guests. "Tony, this is Miss Diana Parsons, she's with social services coming to talk with you about your daughter." Pepper stated with a sharp glare at Tony.

"….wha…I-I'm confused, what?"

"Mr Stark it appears you have a daughter. She was born on July 20th 2014 and the birth certificate says you are her biological father. I have all the paperwork and documents to prove it. The birth certificate, DNA tests, the lot." Miss Parsons handed over the documents she was given while she explained to Tony the reason she was here instead of with her mother. Tony looked at them thoroughly, inspecting every inch of writing hoping to catch an error in the paperwork. Unfortunately for him, he found none. He handed them back with a look of pure horror and fear on his face.

"So…if what you say is true…and she is my daughter…what do I do now?"

"Well Mr Stark, you have two choices: keep her, or decline and we'll look for any other living relatives willing to take her. If we find no living relatives she will be sent to live in an orphanage until someone is willing to adopt her. If you do want to keep her you will have to go through a house inspection and come to an agreed date to allow her to come around for a day and I will decide at the end of the day whether or not she can stay here permanently."

Tony looked as if he had been run over with the amount of information the woman was reeling off. He hesitantly replied, "Okay, so, when can we do it?"

"So you wish to keep her Mr Stark?"

"Yeah."

"Well, whenever you feel you're ready Mr Stark."

"Okay, let's make it Wednesday."

'WEDNESDAY?!' Pepper thought, 'How are we meant to get everything we'll need to look after an infant in TWO DAYS?!'

"Very well Mr Stark, I'll come on Wednesday with her."

Tony looked towards the little girl who was currently drooling around a group of small fingers she had decided to gnaw on. "Can...Can I hold her?" Tony asked, sounding much like a scared little boy.

"Sure" Miss Parsons moved the little girl into Tony arms, warned him to have a strong grip since she liked to squirm around. Pepper moved closer to Tony to inspect the child since she never got a chance before.

The young girl had a mass of uncontrollable curls the exact shade of brown as Tony had. Her eyes were big and doey which could pull even the cruellest of people into the adorable void within. 'She could probably melt Natasha's heart and that's saying something,' Pepper thought. She had a little button nose and dainty lips with full cheeks made of baby fat that would disappear as she grew older. She seemed smaller than the average infant; small hands, equally small feet. 'Most likely due to the neglect' Pepper thought. Tony came to the same conclusion as Pepper saw his face harden.

"What's her name?"

"Her mother named her Amelia." A strange warmth swept through Tony at the mention of her name, and he tightened his grip on the small child. Amelia noticed and fidgeted while making disgruntled noises.

"She's currently 11 months old, starting to show the early signs of preparing to walk but shows no signs of speaking. She also shows signs of not having much communication with anyone since she struggles to understand when she is doing something right or wrong when you speak with her."

"Oh" Tony looked down to Amelia, watched her as she looked around her at the room they were in. He watched her as she looked at Pepper, wondering just what was going through that small head of hers. To say Tony felt awkward was an understatement; the unusual weight of a small human, the mild heat of her body, was all very new to him. As if she felt his gaze on her, she turned back round to come face to face with Tony. As soon as their eyes met an instant connection was made, and Tony swore on his life he would do anything to keep her from harm.

"Well Mr Stark, we must get going." She moved forward to collect Amelia from his arms. He instantly missed the warmth that was once there. Amelia made a grunt of protest, instinctively gripping onto Tony's shirt for a second before letting go.

"Amelia and I will be back on Wednesday." As Pepper showed the woman out, Amelia peered over her shoulder to see Tony and made a short, squeak-like sound. Tony felt his heart melt at the sound.

He stared at the door thinking quietly about his sweet, new baby daughter Amelia. After a while his expression changed to a look of realisation and panic.

'Oh no…how do I tell the team I have a daughter?'

* * *

 **Thanks for reading the first chapter in The Daughter of a Genius! Please review and follow if you like the chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's Chapter 2! Sorry for the extremely late upload but I've been very busy transitioning into adulthood (oh the joys..) and hadn't had the time to edit and upload. But here it is! And hopefully I should get the chance to upload more often now! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 2**

Once Pepper had shown the social worker and Tony's new daughter out, she walked back into the main area to see Tony sat cradling his head between his knees.

"How did this happen Pepper?"

"Well…when a man and woman love each other very much-"

Tony sat up and glared. "I MEANT, why?"

Pepper sighed and moved slowly to sit beside Tony. "Tony, there's no point worrying about why and how, you just need to show how much of an amazing father you can be to that little girl."

"But Pep…I'm not ready to be a father; I don't know when they're hungry, when they need to be changed, nothing! Amelia's already been through hell and I haven't even been part of her life yet! I don't want to be a terrible father…I don't want to make the mistakes my dad made with me."

'Ah so that's what's worrying him' Pepper thought. She moved closer to hug him and told him, "Tony, you would make a GREAT dad! You know all of the mistakes your dad made, and I know you would NEVER want to follow in those footsteps. Just believe in yourself Tony, have a bit of confidence. You can do this, I just know it."

Tony looked up at Pepper and said, "Thanks Pepper…you always know what to say. So…what do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we only have the rest of today and tomorrow to become full experts on how to look after a child, AND tell the rest of the team about Amelia."

Pepper realised what Tony was saying and how little time they had. Suddenly she stood up with an exclamation of "Right! Well, I'll get some catalogues of different things we'll need and get ordering the things to be delivered tomorrow. While I do that, you can tell the rest of the Avengers and then we can all chip in to finish on time!"

"I LOVE it when you take charge…" Tony started to walk towards her, smirk on his face.

"Tony…" He was then hugging Pepper around the waist, leaning his head of her shoulder. "You know, maybe we can put those plans on hold for a couple of hours…"

"No. Tony we don't have time to put things on hold! If you remember correctly you would know that you agreed to be fully equipped and capable of catering for a child in TWO DAYS. You said it yourself we don't have a lot of time." Tony let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Fiiiiiine." He gently nuzzled and kissed her neck, making her giggle at having been tickled by his beard. After they stayed in that position long enough, they parted ways. Pepper walked to the door, already on her phone organising different things. Tony watched her leave, sighed, and then worked to gather the rest of the team for an emergency meeting.

* * *

"What's this about Tony?" Natasha asked as she moved to sit on the couch next to Clint. With the addition of every person that entered the room, Tony's nerves grew. Tony stood, wringing his hands nervously in front of him, while he thought of a simple way to tell them. Most of them grew suspicious, knowing this was not the way Tony usually acted.

"Uh, hey guys…thanks for gathering…uh…you see…earlier I found out that I kiiiiind oooof haveadaughter…"

Silence cloaked the room. "…What? How about speaking English and at a normal pace Tony?" Clint said, looking at everyone's confused faces.

"I…have..a…daughter."

For a moment everyone in the room was quiet. Then all of a sudden, an uproar of sound occurred from the whole team asking different questions about what Tony just said.

"Wait..guys…GUYS!" Tony's shout made everyone quiet and look towards him. "Look, I know you probably want to know the details, but I can't explain if you all shout at me at once!"

Tony went on to explain about why his daughter was, hopefully, coming to stay with him. After he finished speaking, Bruce quietly asked, "Why didn't you know you had a daughter before?"

"I don't know, her mother probably didn't like it that I moved on to someone else…and decided to take it out on Amelia." Tony bowed his head, seething at the thought. The other avengers stayed quiet.

"What do we do now?" Clint asked after the silence became too much.

"Pepper's currently out getting catalogues and ordering items. All we need to do here is make the current living arrangements suitable for a toddler…so…covering sharp edges on tables and stuff like that, right?"

After the team finished their discussion, they went their separate ways to change little parts of the tower to accommodate a child. Later on Pepper arrived back, rushed into the main area and dumped a load of different books onto the coffee table. Some of the avengers who were currently sitting down gave Pepper an odd look.

"Pepper, don't you think you went a bit overboard with the books?" Clint stated, holding a catalogue stating 'Preparing for a Baby: Dummy Edition!'

"Well I didn't exactly know which ones we would need so I bought a couple more than I aimed to." Pepper replied sheepishly. Although her reasoning she gave to the others was true, she wouldn't openly admit that her main reason was that she had got a bit overexcited of the fact there would be a little girl living in the tower.

Pepper had never thought of having kids since she was too busy with her schedule. Not to mention the growing reliance on her within Stark Industries. Her work always left her no time to think of a life outside of it, especially creating and bringing up a human being. But although she never got the chance to think about it, she felt a sense of excitement at having the chance to bring up a child. She knew she would be there for her unlike her own biological mother who never was.

"Well I've ordered some essentials I could think of and all we need to do is order anything else we need. I made a deal with a local store to get deliveries to come for tomorrow in exchange for a generous funding from Stark Industries. So far I got some toys, diapers, baby utensils, baby bowls and plates, a crib-"

Pepper pauses to glance over at Tony and the others to find most of them asleep. Pepper sighed and started to look through what looked like an endless amount of catalogues that she needed to order from.

'It's going to be a long night…' she thought tiredly.

* * *

Early the next day Clint came downstairs and was surprised to see Pepper still sat at her laptop on the kitchen table. She was surrounded by several mugs of coffee, her once perfectly held hair now a mess and dark circles underneath her eyes reflected by the lit up screen on the computer.

"Pepper? Have you been up all night?"

"Huh?..oh, maybe…I kept saying that what I was getting would be the last thing, but then I thought of something else and I kept going…"

Clint started to move towards Pepper while he said, "Maybe you should try to get some sleep Pepper-"

"But-"

"No 'buts' Pepper, think, you won't be much help later if you are falling asleep every minute. Try to get atleast SOME sleep."

Pepper agreed with Clint and stumbled her way up to her and Tony's room to get a couple hours shut-eye.

-break-

After Pepper had got some well needed sleep, she slowly made her way downstairs to see everyone up and about in the main area. She made her way to the coffee machine and turned it on while she looked at the others. Some of the parcels she ordered had already arrived and were piled up in the middle of the living room ready to be opened.

The colourful boxes varied in height and weight. Pepper felt a surge of excitement for getting to open them soon and see the contents they held within. As soon as her coffee was made, she walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Tony looked at her, "Ah Pepper! We were waiting for you."

"You were? You could have just opened them without me…"

"What? No! Why would we do that when you spent all night getting it! That's like getting presents for Christmas and not opening them! It's just wrong!"

Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony's childlike behaviour before she looked over to Steve who was about to open the first box. The box was quite big and the image displayed on the side of it showed a fully built crib. Steve pulled out the different parts of the crib as well as the instructions. "Well, this shouldn't be too hard."

* * *

20 minutes later proved that the men were too stubborn to accept they didn't know how to build a crib without instructions. This resulted in an unstable, disjointed version of a crib which looked as if it could not hold the weight of a feather, let alone a child. After Natasha yelled at them to "just read the bloody instructions" they were able to get a fully stable and safe bed. The crib was made of dark mahogany wood with intricate, engravings on the side. A separate baby mobile was then attached and they watched as it slowly spun to show the little clouds, stars and small animals connected to it whilst emitting a soft lullaby.

The next few boxes they opened contained things that did not need to be built. One box was fully compact of baby clothes, crib sheets, blankets and bibs; ranging from onesies, dresses, and dainty little shoes that made Pepper fawn over for several minutes.

Another box contained baby bowls, utensils and anything else a baby may need different to an adult at meal time. Boxes that caught most of the Avengers attention were the ones full of toys and play mats for little Amelia to enjoy. Steve seemed to look at the toys in wonder since he had never seen toys like that when he was a young boy. Natasha showed a faint look of sadness as she never got the chance to play with them in her childhood. Pepper gazed at the 'World's Mightest Heroes' holding various baby toys and couldn't help but think a baby could do them all some good.

The last box that had arrived early was opened to reveal a highchair. Pepper had chosen a wooden highchair with intricate carvings covering the back and a white plastic table on the front. The highchair was easier to put together and once it was completed it was set in the middle of the living room. Everyone in the room was still, silent. It seemed the fact that a young baby was coming to live with them finally felt real. Tony slowly walks towards the highchair and strokes a part of the intricate design with a thoughtful look on his face.

He moved to touch the soft fabric of the clothes nearby, smiling softly to himself. He looked close at the images of giraffes on the little cream coloured onesie that folded perfectly into his hand. 'So small.' Tony thought to himself as he felt the sewn writing of 'daddy's little girl' written onto the chest of the fabric.

He smiled again. 'My little girl.'

* * *

Late in the evening all the parcels had arrived leaving a shortage of space in the living room and some of the kitchen. A variety of unopened and empty boxes lay strewn over the whole room, even spilling into the kitchen. The team were all working together to get everything in its rightful place so they could be ready for their guests who would be arriving around 7 in the morning.

Dressing tables had been built, clothes been placed in them, the nursery had been furnished, play mats were placed, and toys were given their own specific area of the living room. It had seemed Pepper had bought enough toys for multiple children, with the toys overflowing out of the bins they were meant to be in.

As the team settled down for the evening once everything had been sorted, they all felt conflicting emotions. Pepper was bursting with excitement at the thought of the baby, whereas Tony was starting to doubt himself.

'What if I end up acting like my father without knowing it…'

'What if I can't be the dad she's expecting me to be...'

 **Hope you enjoyed the second chapter! If you did, let me know with a review and favourite/follow for future chapters! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter for all you lovely people. Hoping to keep the uploads regulated, maybe Wednesdays and Sundays I think. Hopefully anyway! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 3**

The next day started when Pepper was found rushing around trying to correct everything that wasn't up to her standards. She didn't want anything getting in the way of their chance to have Amelia living there.

The other avengers only just started to wake up and were slowly making their way into the main area at different times, yawning with sleep-filled eyes. With only a couple hours left before the social worker arrived with Amelia, Pepper was going through her mental checklist of everything they had done and needed doing.

"Okay, so we've done the dressing tables, the highchair, all the baby utensils are away…what else…I'm sure there was something else!.."

"Pepper we've done everything that needs doing beforehand, you need to relax."

"I can't relax Steve! A baby's going to be living here and everything needs to be ready and perfect!" Pepper replied frantically while she rushed into the kitchen. Natasha and Steve look over towards Tony, slumped on the couch with half-lidded eyes nursing a cup of coffee. Tony noticed the stares. "What are you two staring at?"

"Well if you haven't already noticed, your girlfriend's running round like a headless chicken sorting out the stuff for YOUR daughter and your sitting here doing nothing to calm her or help." Natasha tensely replied, glaring knives that could kill.

Tony sighs. "Look. I tried helping out this morning but everything I did was APPARENTLY wrong. Trust me, when Pepper means business, she means business." The two gave Tony looks of confusion before they turned to watch Pepper who had moved into the room after Tony finished speaking.

"OK…I think everything's ready." Pepper let out a deep sigh before she collapsed onto the couch next to Tony.

"You've done a great job Pep, what would I have done without you?" Tony stated whilst he put his arm around Pepper. "You'd still be sitting with your head between your knees, not really understanding what to do." Pepper replied whilst she moved closer to hug Tony.

"Well I'm so glad you're here to keep my head straight."

"Well we wouldn't want a genius who couldn't function-"

"Genius, billionaire, FORMER playboy, philanthropist-"

"Okay we get it."

* * *

Pepper rushed around the team like a whirlwind doing last minute corrections to try to make everything perfect when JARVIS announced the social worker's arrival.

"Sir, Miss Parsons has just arrived."

"OK thanks JARVIS, send her up." Tony replied from his position on the couch. Pepper, having heard the announcement rushed to Tony and forcefully pulled him up into a standing position.

"Pep what are you doing?" Tony asked while Pepper adjusted his shirt and flattened his hair.

"Making you look presentable. Honestly, do you think someone's going to have faith in a man who can't even brush his hair, to look after a child?" Tony grumbled a reply, feeling like a reprimanded child, and walked towards the elevator doors ready for the guests. Not long after, the elevator doors opened and Diana Parsons with Amelia on her hip entered the main living area. Her matching black two piece suit starkly (no pun intended) contrasted Amelia's neon pink top, which had a food stain on it, floral jeans and little white trainers.

"Ah Mr Stark, Miss Potts, a pleasure to see you again."

"Please, call us Tony and Pepper" Pepper replied, and offered her a friendly handshake.

"It's great to see you too, how's Amelia doing?" Pepper replied and the two turned their attention to the little girl, who was once again looking around the room in curiosity, fingers once again in her mouth.

"She's great, she's starting to get more confident with new people and we've found in more ways than we can count how mischievous is." She bounced the girl, eliciting a loud giggle from her. "Now, I just have a few issues I need to go over and then you can spend the day with Amelia; hopefully by the end of the day you'll be able to keep her permanently, that OK?" Pepper agreed and guided them into the dining area. The social worker gently placed Amelia on her feet by the table and the adults watched as she grabbed onto her pant leg, uncomfortable in the unknown surroundings. A few seconds later she loses her balance and falls onto her bottom.

"All I need you to do is sign these forms to confirm you want to take custody of Amelia. Now you've got a couple of options. Tony, you can sign it yourself and take full parental control, or since Pepper is your long-term partner, both you and Pepper can sign and share the role of being her legal parents."

Tony and Pepper stared at each other, unsure of what to do. Pepper started to have an internal conflict, thinking of how ill-experienced she is as a mother…but to think Tony may want her as a mother for Amelia made her heart swell all at once. Tony started to pull Pepper into the kitchen, mumbling "Excuse us a minute" and avoided treading on Amelia along the way.

Tony stared into space, uncertain of what decision to make. 'This is a first…the genius Tony Stark with no smart comment or joke…' Pepper thought while she watched Tony intently.

"Sooooo…what do you want to do Pep?"

"Wh-what do you mean? I mean..it's your choice, she's your child."

"Yeah, I know that, but I don't want to drag you into something you don't wanna do."

"Oh Tony…I would LOVE to be Amelia's parent, but I just don't know how! I mean, I don't know how to raise children, I don't know when to tell a child off, I don't know how to comfort them, feed them, bathe them-" Pepper reeled, starting to hyperventilate.

"Whoa! Pep, calm down! Remember the conversation you had with me about my parenting troubles? Well, the same thing applies to you! Yeah, we may not know the absolute right way of raising a child…but we can damn well try! Who cares if we get bits wrong! We do it our way…and you know if it's my way it's bound to be right!" Pepper laughed at Tony's statement. 'And there's the Tony I know…' she thought.

She took a deep breath, "OK…so we're doing this together…lets go do this." Tony and Pepper walked back towards the dining room door and opened it. What they didn't expect was Amelia on the other side, waiting for the right moment to crawl into the kitchen once the door had opened.

Amelia crawled around looking at different parts of the kitchen, Tony kept a close eye on her while Pepper moved over to the social worker who was sat at the table with an amused smile. "She's been staring at the door since you closed it, she tried to open it but couldn't reach. I would love to know what goes through that little head of hers."

Pepper looked back at father and daughter. Tony followed Amelia around the kitchen and explained everything she grabbed hold of. Amelia stared at Tony, mouth gaped, doey eyes wide while he spoke. Pepper smiled, feeling her heart warm at the sight and turned back to Miss Parsons. "What is it we need to sign?"

It didn't take long for Pepper to sign the documents to make her a mother to Amelia. While Pepper signed numerous papers, Tony came back into the dining room holding both of Amelia's hands in his, helping her to slowly walk. Although it looked more like staggering. Once he reached the two women he let go of Amelia's hands and she crawled off to investigate the rest of the dining area. Not long after, all the paperwork had been signed by Tony and Pepper so they were the proud, legal parents of Amelia Maria Stark.

"So now that all the documents are sorted I just need to have a quick chat about what she needs. As you know, we found her after reports of abuse and neglect were given which has evidently affected her. We've found she's starting to find her voice, mainly through sounds, no speech. This means she's a bit behind on her speech but there are many children's show to help improve interaction. I'll give you more on that later. She's currently able crawl and is showing signs of walking very soon, so look out for that. Once she's up, I have a feeling they'll be nothing to stop her.

Now, the main thing I need to talk about is her communication with others. From what we can gather she hasn't had any social contact so she doesn't know how to interact with others and she's behind in many life lessons others learn much younger than her. Amelia's lacked physical and emotional affection which means you need to be able to give her a lot of attention to make up for the time she's lost."

Tony and Pepper nodded when she had finished speaking, struck speechless at how much Amelia has been affected by her mother's poor actions. After they had signed a couple more papers to say they had been briefed of Amelia's situation, the group made their way back into the main living area. The other members of the Avengers had slowly moved into their own living quarters, offering Tony some privacy to get to know his daughter before having to meet the rest of the team.

"So now it's up to you what you want to do with Amelia for the day, I'll just tag along quietly. I hope you don't mind, but I need to do a quick assessment of any rooms Amelia may go in while living here."

"Oh yes! Of course. Allow me to show you around, Tony can stay with Amelia if that's fine by you?..."

"Yes that's fine, we won't be long Mr Stark, Miss Potts if you could lead the way."

Once Pepper and Miss Parsons had left, Tony turned to look at Amelia who was slowly making her way around the room. Once her curiosity was satisfied, she made her way over to the large couch and attempted to climb onto it. Tony watched in amusement as she struggled to climb onto the sofa, grabbing the soft fabric in her little hands to try to pull her up, grunting as she did so.

After Tony had thought she had struggled enough, Tony walked up behind her laughing quietly to himself. "Come 'ere, let me help." He gently grabbed her under her armpits and slowly lifted her up to sit on the couch. She jumped, turning around quickly, looking up at Tony in surprise.

"Hello Amelia, I'm your daddy. You probably can't understand me but I just want to say that I know you didn't have the best of starts in this world, but I'm gonna do my best to make it up to you." Tony said seriously whilst gaining a sombre look, thinking of Amelia's past.

Amelia stared at him, doey eyes wide open, then smiled showing her small collection of baby teeth while she giggled. She began to slowly crawl into Tony's lap and looked up at him, grabbed his cheeks rather harshly and stretched them trying to make him smile. Tony ended up laughing during the process, resulting in Amelia sitting back against his chest, happy with her achievement of making him happy. Tony started to gently stroke her hair away from her face, attempting to tame her wild hair. They stayed like this until Pepper and the social worker returned.

Later in the afternoon, after a full day of fun and laughter Miss Parsons completed her assessment of Tony and Pepper's home. She came to the conclusion that Amelia could live there permanently. They agreed immediately and Miss Parsons left soon after congratulating them, and allowing the new family time to settle in together.

"Well, I guess it's official…we're parents." Pepper stated, shocked at the thought that the day before she was just CEO of Stark Industries and now she's a mother to the beautiful little girl napping on her lap.

"I guess so…now…what do we do?" Tony replied, equally stunned.

"Bring her up in a loving environment and give her the normal life she is entitled to."

"Pep…I'm Ironman, you're the CEO of Stark Industries, we live in a tower full of superheroes…how is that normal?"

"OK….as normal as you can when your family's the Avengers."

 **So that's Chapter 3! Let me know what you think, and anything you may like to see in future chapters! See you Sunday!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's Chapter 4! Hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 4**

When Amelia had woken up from her nap, she started to discover the bins full of toys. Pepper and Tony had agreed they would introduce Amelia to the rest of the team just before dinner. After they watched Amelia amuse herself for a long period of time Pepper left to start cooking, which left Tony to watch over Amelia. He watched as she played with the different toys but, not long after, dropping them to reach for another. After she dropped a handful of toys, Tony decided to intercept.

"Hey, Amelia, let's not drop our toys of the floor…OK? That's why we have the bins…so we put them in there once we're done with them. Like this!" Tony demonstrated what to do with a toy and Amelia watched, one hand held the end of the couch and her other arm held a fluffy sheep teddy. Tony slowly exaggerated the movement to make sure he kept her attention.

Amelia stared at the toy bin, looking like she was thinking through what her dad just did. After a moment, she let go of the couch and stood wobbling, trying to keep her balance. She carefully reached down and picked up a toy she had disposed of earlier and looked up at Tony.

"That's right! Put it in the bin…" Amelia fell onto her bottom and then moved to the toy bin and dropped the toy into it. She looked back at Tony, seemingly waiting for a reply.

"Good girl Amelia!" Tony praised, lifting Amelia under the armpits and kissing her on the cheek. Amelia looked shocked at first, then slowly started to smile and laugh at Tony's antics. As he placed her back onto her feet she quickly grabbed his shirt to keep her balance. Tony admired the dainty fingers holding onto him. Amelia picked up another toy and repeated the process. Looking up to her dad hoping for more attention. Again Tony picked her up and kissed her. They continued to do this until all the toys had gone back into the bin. Amelia decided to keep the sheep with her and hugged it close, pushing her face into the soft fur.

Tony sat of the couch feeling eyes watching him while he pretended to watch the children's cartoon on TV. He looked out the corner of his eye to see Amelia peeking through the fur of the sheep to see if Tony was looking. When she caught his eye she quickly hid her face, laughing quietly to herself. Tony loved how happy she was with everything, never once failing to have a smile. He decided to go along with her game and continuously looked over to her when he felt her looking.

After a while she started to move closer to Tony. When she reached his legs she placed her hand on his knee and made a grunting noise, grabbing his attention.

"What's wrong sweetie?"

Tony's reply was having the sheep shoved onto his lap and the scurrying sound of Amelia crawling away. Tony moved the sheep to catch a glimpse of Amelia as she went into the kitchen.

"Hey sweetheart, what's wrong?" Pepper's faint voice reached Tony and he turned to watch Pepper carry Amelia back into the living area on her hip. When Pepper reached the couch she sat next to Tony and watched as Amelia shifted into her father's arms, sighing contently with her sheep.

"Oh, you just want a bit of attention do you?..." Pepper stated whilst she leant over to tickle her sides, receiving sharp sounding laughter. "So…dinners almost ready, are you going to introduce her to the rest of the team soon?"

"Yeah, I think now will be a good time. JARVIS! Call down the others please."

"Of course Sir, they will be down momentarily."

* * *

Whilst Tony waited for the team to slowly filter into the living area, Pepper went off to the kitchen to continue the dinner. Amelia sat on a play mat in the middle of the room, oblivious to the people entering. She played with the sheep she retrieved from her father moments before, and babbled to herself.

Once everyone was comfortably situated on the couch, Tony stood up and announced, "Right, everyone! Pepper and I are now the proud parents of Miss Amelia Maria Stark." He picked Amelia off the mat, much to Amelia's annoyance. As she squirmed around Tony states, "Team, meet Amelia."

At this point Amelia noticed the accumulated amount of people and instantly freezed, before letting out a loud whine and cry in her way of saying "Please put me down!" Tony quickly placed her back on her mat saying, "Hey, hey, it's okay, they may look scary but I promise you they're nice…well, most are.."

Natasha glared.

Amelia resumed playing with the multi-coloured building blocks she recently found in one of the bins, ignoring Tony's plea for forgiveness and turned her back on the team. Tony tried to grab Amelia's attention again, gently taking away the blocks she mashed against each other. She whined and made grabbing motions with her small hands, pleading for them back. "Now Amelia, it's rude to ignore others, especially when they want to meet you." Tony said slowly, internally wincing at the mass amounts of drool being relocated onto her hands in her mouth.

As Tony tried to convince Amelia to turn around, the team felt mixed emotions about the new addition to the tower.

Clint looked on in amusement at the antics of the Stark family, smirking. Clint looked forward to having another mischievous member in their dysfunctional group. Natasha felt cautious of growing close to the child, so accepted to keeping a distance between them. Bruce automatically felt weary of the child, scared he may accidently harm her fragile state. Steve, on the other hand, felt the girl would be a great way to extinguish Starks snarky and irresponsible attitude towards life.

Snapping out of their thoughts, their eyes turned towards Tony once again.

"Amelia come on, don't be rude, I have enough rudeness to cover the both of us." Tony pleaded whilst trying to lift her by her armpits. This did not go down well.

"WAAHHHHHHHH"

Instantly Amelia dropped the blocks she held, straightend all her limbs and let out a piercing wail. Tony almost dropped her in surprise. Almost. Instead, he quickly lifted her and struggled to hold on to her by placing one arm under her bum and one round her back. Her face an uncomfortable shade of red, indicating her lack of oxygen.

The team were amused by Tony, looking like a deer in headlights, awkwardly attempting to soothe the girl with disjointed rocking. "Shhh…it's okay, you're okay..er.." Amelia grabbed two fistfuls of Tony's t-shirt in her pudgy hands, giant tears rolled down her cheeks. He quickly picked up the stuffed sheep toy she had grown particularly fond of, and shoved it into her arms, startling her into quietened whimpers. Her dainty lips still trembled, but the toy grabbed her curiosity once again. Tony sighed in relief.

"Right, now that's settled, Amelia this is the team!" Tony exclaims grabbing her attention. "See? This over here is Clint, otherwise known as Legolas or, my personal favourite, Robin Hood!" Clint glared at Tony ready to protest, but he ignored him. Tony turned next to Natasha, Amelia stared intently, mouth ajar. "Then we have.." Natasha glared. "..Natasha, just Natasha, nothing else whatsoever." He finished quickly, moving onto the next person. Natasha grinned triumphantly. "This is Steve, also known as Capsicle, and Bruce, who is my personal favourite." Tony whispered to her making Amelia giggle.

After he finished the introductions, Tony placed Amelia back onto her mat. Although now, it seemed Amelia decided to give the team all of her attention and she stared. She forced her hand into her mouth, drool appearing over it. Tony left to go check on Pepper, leaving the team to sit in uncomfortable silence. After a minute, Amelia turned and picked up two building blocks, one blue and one yellow. She crawled towards Natasha and Clint, and when she got there she whined, reaching towards the couch. Clint looked at Natasha, who had frozen with the close proximity. Then he reached down and lifted her up by the armpits, placing her in the space in between them.

Amelia studied the two assassins, considering whether they were worthy of her precious slobber-covered blocks. After a minute or two she made a short squeak and pushed the blocks into Clint and Natasha's' faces. "Oh, thankyou Amelia!" Clint exclaims, making an over-exaggerated face of happiness. Natasha stayed blank. Clint nudged Natasha, forcing her to stare at him, muttering, "Yeah, thanks.."

Pleased her gifts were well accepted, Amelia slid onto the floor and proceeded to crawl into the kitchen. Leaving bewildered avengers in her path.

* * *

Not long after, Pepper exclaimed that dinner was ready. She had made a variety of food to suit all of the team's preferences. As everyone filtered in, drawn by the mouth-watering aroma, Pepper asked Tony to place Amelia in her new high chair. Amelia was currently playing with her toy sheep in a corner of the kitchen and was oblivious to Tony heading towards her. This time when Tony picked her up, she didn't complain.

Tony moved to the high chair and started to lower her in. Amelia, seeing she was going to be restricted in the seat, started to whimper and squirm. She pushed her feet against the edge of the table section. "Come on Amelia, don't you want to eat?" Tony is answered with a growl-like screech. He finally got her into the chair and turned her face to his saying, "Now Amelia, we don't act like this, do we?"

Amelia flung her body to the side of the chair, wailing and making grabby hands, face bright red. Tony sighed and left her to calm down, hoping that ignoring her will do something. After a couple of minutes of eating, Amelia didn't show signs of stopping. She flung her food on the floor and table. "I don't think she's calming down Tony." Steve pointed out. Tony glared at him retorting, "Noooo, really? I thought she was mellowing out!"

"What I mean is, I think you should help her! Obviously she wants some attention, the poor girl!"

"Don't tell me how to look after my daughter Capsicle, I can do just fine!"

Amelia started to calm, listening to Tony and Steve's arguing, hiccupping every so often. "Well it seems something has calmed her down. Trust a Stark to calm at the first sign of confrontation." Natasha joked. Tony glared at Natasha and turned to Amelia saying, "Well now you got that out your system, how about some food?"

Tony refilled her dish with pasta and sauce then placed it on her table. Just as he reached for the spoon, Amelia smacked his hand, squealing. "It seems we have another Stark who doesn't like to accept help." Bruce murmured amused. The rest of the team smothered their laughter at Tony's sharp gaze.

As a result of Amelia self-feeding, the outcome was a messy one. Pepper looked over to see pasta all over her face, in her hair, on her clothes and on anything in a close proximity of her spoon. But still, the team left her to it. Pepper looked away, then felt a wet splat on her arm. In shock she looked over and found remnants of pasta sauce slowly sliding down her arm. She looked up to see Amelia staring at her, making grabby hands to be picked up. 'Gosh, and I thought Tony was a handful.' Pepper thinks.

"Excuse me, we do not throw our food at people." Pepper said slowly, but gave in to Amelia's doey-eyes and pout. Picking her up she placed her onto her lap and tried to wipe some of the food accumulated over her hands and arms with a wet wipe. Amelia struggled, not liking the wet, cold feeling. She finally realised she would not be getting away, and ended up sitting still with a big pout.

"It's like having an exact replica of Stark!" Clint taunted, grinning at Amelia's face.

"And what could POSSIBLY go wrong with that I wonder?..." Pepper sighed.

 **Leave a review of what you thought and I'll see you next time! :)**


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